Although judo took up the majority of Toshiyuki's life during this time, it was not all about it. During his three-month stay in Japan in 1960, he also had some important encounters.
"The Kodokan was closed on the weekend, so I decided to visit my cousin in Kobe. At that time, Midori's older brother (who would later become my wife) told me, 'My younger sister is attending nursing school in Kyoto, so please come and meet her.'" So, he visited Kyoto with a friend from Kobe Commercial High School, whom he happened to meet that weekend.
Thinking back to that time, Toshiyuki asked, "I got in touch with him and said, 'Your brother asked me to meet him so I guess I'll go,' and he took me to that bridge in Kyoto, right?" Midori replied, "Togetsukyo Bridge?" Toshiyuki replied, "Yeah, we walked across it to the other side. We took a photo, right?"
The two then began exchanging letters. "In the end, it was a long-distance relationship. He would write me letters diligently because he had a lot of free time on the base. He liked to keep me updated," Midori said. "I was busy with school and training, so I think I only replied to about one in three letters."
"I only made one phone call," Toshiyuki said. "I went to Seattle to play an Air Force game, and it was right after the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair. I went all the way up and there was a telephone, so I thought I could make a phone call from there, and I called Japan. I said, 'Do you know where I'm calling from?'" That was a time when a one-minute phone call would cost more than $10 in 2022 currency.
The next time they met after 1960 was in 1961, when Toshiyuki visited the Kodokan again. By his third visit in 1963, they were starting to talk about marriage.
Also in 1963, before judo became an official sport at the Tokyo Olympics the following year, pre-Olympic friendly matches were held. A friendly match was also held in Osaka, where Toshiyuki participated. Midori, who was helping her father, a practicing physician in Hiroshima at the time, and Toshiyuki's parents, who had returned to Japan for work, came to support him. At that time, Toshiyuki's father visited Midori's family home in Hiroshima to prepare their engagement gift.
"So, because I was coming to the Olympics the next year, we decided to hold the wedding the following year, 1964, but I ended up not being able to come to the Olympics." At the Olympic qualifying tournament held in New York, Toshiyuki was unfortunately defeated by a 2-1 decision. Unfortunately, he was unable to participate in the Olympics, but he remained on the team as a reserve and continued training.
During this time, in June 1964, Toshiyuki was discharged from the Air Force and participated in the Olympic team training in San Jose until September, after which he joined his family who had returned to Los Angeles.
"After working in stockings at Ruby for about two years, my father went to Tennessee and began collecting shells to be used as pearl nuclei and sending them to Japan. Of my father's siblings, he was the only one who started so many businesses. One reason for this could be that he could speak English. He was a very forward-thinking man."
Toshiyuki returned to his family's home in El Segundo, near the Los Angeles airport. "I have a family home to sleep in, but I don't have a job, so I have to find some kind of job."
It was not the time to search for a job on the Internet like today. Toshiyuki says that he went to Los Angeles Airport and went directly to the Japan Airlines (JAL) counter to ask if there were any jobs available. He was then sent to the office, told, "There is an office upstairs, so go there." There, he was given a piece of paper, which he filled out and returned, but he was told that he would not know the results immediately, so he asked if there were any jobs available at Varig Brazilian Airlines across the street.
A week later, Varig Airlines called to say they would be taking a test. Meanwhile, JAL called to say, "We have a vacancy in about a week, so if you want a job, we can take you there." And so, Toshiyuki began working at the JAL airport counter in October 1964. "At that time, JAL only had one flight a day to LA. It stopped in Honolulu, arriving at night and departing in the morning."
Six months after he started working for JAL, the US National Championships were held in San Francisco. Toshiyuki was planning to go to Japan after the championships to get married.
Although he won his weight class at the US Championships, he injured his knee in the next four-class grand champion match. The next day, Toshiyuki left Francisco for Japan on a JAL flight.
"Midori came to pick me up, but I was dragging one leg when I got off. At the wedding the next day, I couldn't even sit upright, so I just put my leg forward (laughs)." On their honeymoon, the couple visited Kagoshima, the hometown of Toshiyuki's parents, and the newlywed Midori also began her life in America.
I suddenly wondered if, at the time of their marriage, Toshiyuki had mentioned Midori's Hiroshima-born experience with the atomic bomb, to which he replied, "I didn't know." Midori continued, "It's not like I was hiding it, and I didn't feel like I had to hide it, and I don't think Toshi even knew what an atomic bomb was."
Fortunately, Midori has not suffered from any serious illnesses, and even now, as a director of the American Society of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors (ASA), she is busy preparing various events, including the biennial medical examinations for atomic bomb survivors.
Continued >>
© 2022 Masako Miki
